WELCOME! You have been added to the NO-MILK mailing list. This is an open, unmoderated discussion list for those following a milk-free diet, or for people with an interest in milk-free issues. The principle aim of this list is to provide a discussion forum for people who are avoiding milk and dairy in their diet. We hope that the discussions will include practical information and tips on following a milk-free diet; scientific research and opinion; the latest developments in understanding milk-related health problems; your personal stories and experiences with relation to milk problems; information on what food is milk-free and what is not; tips on how to eat out of the house; recipes and tips on how to cook and prepare milk-free food; how to cope, including coping with the developmental delays and behavioral changes sometimes brought on or aggravated by milk (Autism, Asperger's, Attention Deficit, etc.) plus support for parents with children who suffer from milk-related illnesses. I hope that it will be international in scope, and act both as a support group and an information exchange forum that is relevant to many people. This is a new mailing list, started January 1997. We are building up an archive of files that can be accessed via listserv commands. To receive a list of available files, send the message GET NO-MILK FILELIST to: Listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM THE LIST OWNERS -------------------------------------------- In the spirit of information sharing and open exchange, this list is unmoderated and any subscriber can post to it. Having said that, there are some important points to make about the policy of the list owners about posting on the NO-MILK list. THE REVIEW PROCESS ------------------ The first post that you send to the NO-MILK list will first go to the list-owner. He will then decide whether or not to pass it on to the list. The following are some of the reasons for a post to be rejected: i. It is a commercial advertisement, either for a product or a service. ii. It is a spam, i.e. a mass posting to many mailing lists or newsgroups. iii. It is not relevant to the topics discussed on this list. iv. It contains language that may cause offence to other list users. v. It contains excessive quoting of a previous post (see below) If your post is not acceptable, the list-owner will return it to you, stating the reason for the rejection. You are then free to adapt it and send it in again, where it will be reviewed again. If your post is accepted, then it will be passed on to the whole list, and you will be put on NO-REVIEW status, which means that all of your posts go straight to the list. As long as you continue to abide by the rules as set out in this message, no more of your messages to the list will be reviewed. POSTING ETIQUETTE ------------------ i. The listowners expect that people posting to this list treat each other with respect and dignity. E-mail often exaggerates feelings, as there is no moderating information from tone of voice or body language. Anyone flaming others, using expletives, or posting in any way which the listowners, in their sole discretion, feel is not in the best interests of the list will be prevented from posting, if necessary without prior warning. Being flamed by someone else, whether in public or in private e-mail, is NOT an excuse for posting your own flame --- instead send a private e-mail to the listowners with a copy of the offending e-mail, and we will take care of it. 2. This list is not a free forum for company/organization ads or other forms of self-promotion. We do welcome recommendations by individuals of products that they have found. The important distinction is to AVOID SELF-PROMOTION of products or services. If an unaffiliated list subscriber wants to write "Company X has an excellent milk-free product", that is OK, but employees of companies should not openly promote their own products, and support group leaders should not openly promote any of their group's products or services that have a cost associated with them. 3. Many subscribers have to pay for their e-mail by the line, or by the hour. Many have extremely busy schedules, too. Please be considerate of others -- so when a message does not contribute to the issue being discussed or is directed to a single reader, please send a PRIVATE message to that person, instead of replying to the whole list. 4. When you reply to a message someone has posted on the NO-MILK list, you need to give some thought as to where you send the reply. If it is a personal reply, or only of interest to a very few people, then you should send the reply directly back to the individual that posted the message. If you believe your reply would be of interest to more than a very few list subscribers, then you should send it to the list. 5. INCLUDE ONLY RELEVANT LINES FROM MESSAGES YOU ARE QUOTING The list-owners make a special point of this. It may sound petty, but there are several good reasons for this policy: - Including a complete message wastes resources and readers' time. - The NO-MILK list has searchable archives. These are there for the benefit of all. Excessive quoting of previous messages not only doubles the size of the archives, taking up valuable disk space, it also makes searches on key words more difficult. The ability to SELECTIVELY quote from a previous message with the addition of your comments is available in most e-mail readers. Selective quoting is acceptable. Quoting the whole text, or just leaving it in at the bottom of your reply isn't. If you have any questions about this policy, please ask. The policy is there for everyone's benefit. 6. If you are personally criticized, upset with the operation of the LISTSERV, or have recommendations for improvement, please do not respond directly on the list but instead privately bring it to the attention of one of the listowners listed below. The Listowners will collectively determine a proper response. 7. Do not contact the Postmaster, or anyone else at St. Johns with questions or complaints about our list. The computer staff at St.Johns maintains hundreds of internet discussion groups and cannot get involved in individual accounts. They have also, as an overall legal policy, delegated complete authority over this List to the listowners. 8. The information obtained from this list might not be accurate or medically appropriate for everyone. Each reader must draw their own conclusions about how to use any information obtained from this list. The listowners strongly suggest that each reader do their own analysis of any claims made. In all cases, it is recommended that people consult a medical practitioner first. 9. Requests for local area information (restaurants, medical professionals, health food stores, etc.) should only be posted to the List as a last resort. The Listowners request that you attempt to contact a local support group or to contact a poster who was kind enough to include their location in their signature block. AGREEMENT --------- If you decide to remain subscribed to this mailing list, your doing so indicates agreement by you to the all the policies outlined in this Welcome message, including the terms and conditions to be found in the following two paragraphs. PLEASE unsubscribe from this list if you are unable to agree. Neither the NO-MILK List forum leaders/owners, their employers, nor any subscribers or other contributors can be held liable in any way for any information and/or data obtained in any way from this list; nor shall there be any liability for any information construed as missing from anything obtained from this list. By your use of this mailing list, you agree to hold harmless the NO-MILK List forum leaders/owners, their employers, subscribers, and all other contributors against ANY AND ALL CLAIMS arising out of such use, regardless of the cause, effects, or fault. If you do not agree to the provisions of the two paragraphs immediately above, or with any other policy included in this Welcome message, please unsubscribe from the NO-MILK list immediately. (see below) NO-MILK LIST ADDRESSES: ------------------------------------ The following e-mail addresses are used in relation with this list: 1. The list address: NO-MILK@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU Messages sent to this address go to all list members. This is called "posting" to the list. The list address should never be used for administrative requests regarding your subscription or questions about the list server, as this would unnecessarily annoy several hundreds of list subscribers. You can only post to the list from the account under which you are subscribed. If your post is rejected for no apparent reason, contact one of the listowners listed below. 2. The listserv address: LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU This is the address to which you sent your subscription request, and it should be used for all requests that can be handled automatically by the LISTSERV program. This includes changing your name or address, unsubscribing, changing your subscription options, retrieving files from the file server, searching the list archives, etc. You will find a list of the most commonly used LISTSERV commands in the next section. 3. The listowner's address: Max Desorgher This is the person in charge of keeping the list running. If you have any technical or administrative problem that you cannot solve with LISTSERV commands, contact the listowner. This would include problems such as having your postings to the list rejected, or if you think some NO-MILK messages don't get through to you. COMMON LISTSERV COMMANDS: -------------------------------------------- This file describes some of the common commands that you may need to send to the LISTSERV. You can generally send any number of commands in a single message, as long as each is on a separate line. (Exceptions to this rule will be noted.) This is not a complete list of commands, and many of these commands have other options not discussed here. More information about LISTSERV and database search commands is available, see the "INFO" command described below. Remember to send commands to LISTSERV@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU; don't send them to NO-MILK@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU, which is the address where you post messages for everyone else to read. The common commands are as follows: SUBSCRIBE SIGNOFF SET MAIL SET NOMAIL SET DIGEST SET NODIGEST QUERY GET SEARCH Each will now be described in more detail. ---------- 1. SUBSCRIBE NO-MILK YourFirstName YourLastName This is the command you used to subscribe to the NO-MILK mail list. Your subscription address is automatically detected, so you do not need to enter it. You will only be allowed to post from that address. If you want to post from more than one account, you can subscribe from several addresses and set all but one to "NOMAIL", as explained below. ---------- 2. SIGNOFF NO-MILK This command removes you from the NO-MILK list. If you are forced to change Internet providers and cannot unsubscribe from your old e-mail address, please send an e-mail note to the listowner and he will unsubscribe you from your old e-mail address. ---------- 3. SET NO-MILK MAIL Sets your subscription option so that you receive each message as it is posted. This is the default setting when your subscription begins. ---------- 4. SET NO-MILK NOMAIL Sets your subscription option so that you will receive no mail from the list. You are still able to post messages to the list. This is useful if you have more than one account, or if you want to leave the list temporarily (e.g. when going on vacation). Use "SET NO-MILK MAIL" or "SET NO-MILK DIGEST" to go back to normal. ---------- 5. SET NO-MILK DIGEST Sets your subscription option to digest. Instead of receiving each message as it is posted, you will receive one daily message with all postings for that day. If you use this feature, do not use the reply feature of your software or the entire digest may be re-sent to the whole subscriber list! Instead, a new message should be created with the applicable information and comments. ---------- 6. SET NO-MILK NODIGEST Sets your subscription option to individual messages instead of receiving a daily digest. You will receive each message as it is posted. ---------- 7. QUERY NO-MILK This returns a summary of your current subscription options. If it appears that the NO-MILK list is no longer sending you messages, you should issue the "QUERY NO-MILK" command to determine your status: (1) If the returned information shows NOMAIL and NOPOST this change was probably due to error notices caused by your e-mail address. You can return to receiving normal mail with the "SET NO-MILK MAIL" command (see the description above). There are many reasons why your e-mail address may be causing error notices, including a full mailbox or transmission problems along the pathway. The high volume of error notices we get makes it impossible for us to research every notice. We do try to warn you of the problem, but usually you will not receive our warning for the same reason that the error notice is being generated. If the bounced message appears to be temporary, the ID is set to digest mode. ---------- 8. GET NO-MILK FILELIST This returns a list of all the NO-MILK files available from the file server. --------- 9. GET This retrieves a named file from the file server, eg. GET NO-MILK WELCOME will retrieve this welcome message. ---------- 9. INFO Returns a list of LISTSERV help files. Send "INFO REFCARD" for a reference card on LISTSERV commands. ----------- 10. SEARCH The NO-MILK archives can be searched by sending a query to the listserv. For information on searching, first obtain the following file from listserv@maelstrom.stjohns.edu: GET NO-MILK DBSEARCH Max Desorgher (list owner)